Claude prompting guide

Key principles for effective prompting

1. Be specific

Bad: "Help me with a presentation."

Good: "Create a 10-slide sales presentation covering Q2 performance, top products, and Q3 targets. Include key points per slide."

Why better: Specifies exact needs - slide count, topics, and desired content.

2. Show examples

Bad: "Write a professional email."

Good: "Write a client email about a month-long delay. Here's my usual style:

'Dear [Client], I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to update you on [Project Name]. Unfortunately, we've encountered an issue delaying completion by two weeks. We're working to resolve this and will keep you updated. Please let me know if you have questions. Best regards, [Name]'

Use similar tone for our current supply chain delay situation."

Why better: Shows exact style and format to follow.

3. Request reasoning